SLASH AU Harry/MaleHarem Rewrite of 'Return of the Heirs'. It's Harry's 6th year and with the Ministry finally accepting that Voldemort is back, changes are coming for Harry and for Hogwarts... question is will they be enough? Especially when not everything is as it appears... Rated for future chapters.

Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relate to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling, various publishers, and Warner Brothers. I'm not profiting on this story and it is not my intent to infringe on anyone's copyright or trademark. The only things about this story that I own are the characters and storylines not featured in the books.

Established Pairings: Past Harry/Cedric, Charlie/OMC

Eventual Pairings: Harry/CC/CC/OMC/OMC, plus others I choose not to reveal at this time.

About a minute before the bell that would signal the end of the period was due to ring, Harry said, "All right, class, the period will be over soon. Your homework, due at our next meeting on Thursday, is to write an essay on the theory involved in the match into a needle transformation. To earn a passing grade, your parchment scroll must be at least ten and a half inches long and legibly written in letters between 9/32 and 11/32 inches."

Picking up his PDA, Harry hit a button and said, "I've just sent all of you a message on your PDAs which will give you examples of letters in the correct size range, so please size your handwriting accordingly. Also, the maximum length of your parchments is twenty-one inches and no more. So, don't try to impress me by writing more than twenty-one inches, because it'll be an automatic failing grade if you do." As he said this, the bell rang, prompting Harry to add, "Class dismissed."

Once the last of his students had left the classroom, Harry slid his PDA into the pocket of his robes and pulled out the specially charmed key to his classroom. Rather than locking the doors to their classrooms via the Locking Charm, all of the TAs had been provided with a charmed key that had to be inserted into the locks on their classroom doors in order to unlock the door, which rendered the Unlocking Charm useless. Scanning the room to ensure that none of his students left anything behind, Harry then made his way to the door, before exiting his classroom and locking the door behind him.

With his teaching duties done for the day, Harry now had two free periods before lunch, after which he had Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Fencing, and finally Care of Magical Creatures. Obviously that schedule would change during B weeks, but Harry didn't have to worry about that until next week. Heading to the nearest staircase, Harry began the trek upstairs from his ground floor classroom to the third floor and then over to the Training Grounds Tower, where the lower entrance to the multi-floor Hogwarts library was located.

He was supposed to be meeting Hermione here, as they both had the next two class periods free. Hermione had been teaching History of Magic to the first year Gryffindors and Slytherins while Harry had been with his class and she had all the same classes Harry had after lunch, with the exception of Care of Magical Creatures, during which time she instead had her own History of Magic class with Professor Lasinius. Noah, meanwhile, who had an almost identical schedule to Harry's and Hermione's, except that his A week classes were their B week classes, had one period free. He then had Warding, Lunch, Potions, Ancient Runes, Fencing, and Enchanting.

It had been something of a shock to all three of them when they'd compared their schedules after they'd been messaged to them at about eight the previous evening to see that they all had Fencing with Professor Lasinius in the three to three-fifty timeslot. As far as any of them knew, there had never been a class that students from different years took together, but apparently that was about to change. Not that they were going to complain about having a class together, because they weren't. In fact, Noah and Harry in particular, were looking forward to it. Of course, as it turned out, it wasn't the only class they had together, as they'd also been paired together for Archery.

Arriving in the library, Harry spotted Hermione sitting at a table near the entrance to the Restricted Section. In their first year, the Restricted Section had been separated from the main library only by ropes, which is how Harry was able to sneak into the section under his invisibility cloak to try and look for information on Nicolas Flamel. Sometime over the summer, however, the ropes had been replaced with a wire mesh wall with a locked gate, thus making it impossible to sneak into the section because Madam Pince had the only key. Several times since this change, Harry had wondered if maybe his nighttime trip in first year, and his subsequent encounter with the screaming book that caused him to flee, had anything to do with it.

Sitting down at the table, Harry asked softly, "So, how was your first class?"

"I think it went well, all things considered," Hermione said. "I was a little nervous, but I suppose that's to be expected."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I was a bit nervous too, but once I got into my groove, I think I did okay."

Hermione smiled. "Of course, you had the extra advantage of already having teaching experience."

"True," Harry said. After a moment, he grinned and said, "I do hope you tried to keep the students engaged and not make them fall asleep."

Hermione shook her head. "I'm pleased to say that nobody fell asleep, but then I wasn't speaking in a monotone like Professor Binns always did."

"Well, that's a good thing," Noah said in a soft tone, as he came over to the table. "While I opted not to take it at NEWT level, History of Magic is still an important class and it's a good thing that Professor Binns is gone and there's living teachers now who are, hopefully, competent."

Hermione nodded. "I have History of Magic last period today, so I'll let you know what Professor Lasinius is like for the subject." After a moment, she added, "Is it just me or does he seem very young?"

Harry nodded. "He does, yes. If I had to guess, I'd say he can't be much older than twenty-one, but then again, Roger is even younger, considering that he just finished Hogwarts this past spring. So, he's only what, like seventeen?"

"Eighteen actually," Noah said. "I talked to him a few times in the Prefect's Bathroom last year and got to know him a bit. His birthday is in August," Noah paused here to grin, before he leaned towards Harry and Hermione and whispered, "and he's gay."

"What?" Harry asked. "He went to the Yule Ball with Fleur Delacour and Cho was his Valentine's Day date last year."

Noah shook his head. "Harry, you do realize that Cho is a lesbian, right?"

Harry's eyes got wide as dinner plates as he asked, "What?"

Hermione shook her head. "Oh come on, Harry, surely you're not that dense. Why do you think Cho was so supportive of Marietta last year, even after she betrayed the DA to Umbridge?"

"You mean they were a couple?" Harry asked, as both Noah and Hermione nodded. "Then why did Cho and Roger go out on Valentine's Day last year?"

"Simple," Noah answered. "Neither one of them was out yet and they were acting as each other's beards. As for Roger taking Fleur to the Yule Ball, I figured that maybe her Veela heritage had something to do with it, but I was wrong. Roger told me last year that the real reason was because he was trying to make his current boyfriend jealous and it worked - they've been together ever since New Year's Eve that year."

"Who is his boyfriend?" Hermione asked.

Noah grinned as he leaned forward again and whispered, "Terence Higgs and yes I do mean the one that's teaching here this year. The year of the Yule Ball was his seventh year, but his birthday is in September, so he'll be twenty in about two weeks."

"Wow," was all Harry could say, because he had totally missed the signs. With a self-deprecating grin, he added, "Guess my gaydar isn't all that good."

"Well, Harry, it's not that bad, either," Hermione said, as she patted his hand in a comforting gesture. "You've just been upset about Cedric, which is totally understandable."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I have been. Of course, I know that I'll have to move on eventually. Cedric wouldn't want me to be alone forever."

"No, he wouldn't," Noah agreed. "But, he also wouldn't want you moving on until you feel ready to do so."

"You're too patient for your own good, Noah," Harry said with a shake of his head.

"Wait, a minute," Hermione said, "Noah, do you like Harry?"

"Yeah, I do," Noah answered.

Now it was Hermione's turn to say, "Wow. You know, I never thought of the two of you as a couple, but now that I think about it, you'd look cute together."

"Whoa, slow down, Hermione," Harry said. "We're not a couple yet."

"Yet being the operative word," Hermione said with a smile. "Meaning you could be, at some point."

"Maybe," Harry said and wanting to change the subject, he asked, "So, shall we grab some books and do some research on the heirs?"

Noah and Hermione nodded and all three of them headed into the section that housed the genealogical texts. Each of them grabbed one of the thicker volumes that they hadn't looked through yesterday with Nick and Draco and returned to their table. Opening the books, which were laid out like family group sheets that showed a couple, their children, and the names of the children's spouses, along with the page number that child's own children could be found on, and began skimming the lists to see if any names looked promising.

Ten minutes later, none of them had found anything and while Hermione was continuing to read in earnest, sure that she would find something if she just kept at it long enough, Noah and Harry were getting a little sick of pursuing what seemed to be a dead end. It was around this time that Harry looked up and saw Dumbledore approaching. "Headmaster," Harry said, as the aged wizard arrived at their table.

Dumbledore nodded and said, "Mr. Potter, Mr. Diggory, Miss Granger. What are you three researching so intently?"

Noah lifted the volume he was reading up so that the headmaster could see the cover, prompting Dumbledore to say, "Ah, I see, you're researching the heirs. I'm afraid you won't find anything about them in those books."

Hermione looked up at this and asked, "Why not?"

"Because their surnames died out centuries ago," Dumbledore answered. "Slytherin was the last name to go extinct and that was sometime between 1600 and 1650 I believe and I'm afraid none of these volumes go much further back than 1790."

Noah and Harry both closed their books, figuring it didn't really pay to look through the rest of the book if it wasn't going to help them at all. Hermione kept her volume open, but had stopped reading, as she asked, "Are there any books in the library that would go back far enough?"

Dumbledore stroked his beard as he thought for a moment, before he said, "There might be one series of genealogy texts that might go far enough back, but they're in the Restricted Section."

"The Restricted Section?" Hermione asked, the confusion clear on her face. "Why would a genealogy text be restricted?"

"Because the authoress, one Hilda Crawford," Dumbledore said, "was also a famous artist of wizard portraits in the mid fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries and the series of genealogical texts that she wrote included reproductions of a number of her works." Dumbledore paused here for a moment and the three teens were all taken aback when the headmaster's cheeks turned slightly red, as he continued, "Miss Crawford's works, however, were of an adult nature."

"An adult nature?" Noah asked. "You mean she painted people naked?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, Mr. Diggory, she did. She also took a few commissions to paint joint portraits for married couples who for some reason wanted portraits of themselves engaged in carnal relations. Unless I'm very much mistaken, there's examples of both types of her work in her genealogy series, all used with the permission of the subjects of course, but due to their adult nature, they were put in the Restricted Section where young, innocent eyes couldn't find them by mistake."

"Um, okay," Harry said, blushing furiously at the idea of anyone wanting to have their portrait done, not only in the nude, but while in the act of having sex. He just couldn't imagine why anybody would actually want a portrait of themselves having sex, especially when the portrait would be capable of moving and talking.

"And why would a school even have copies of these books?" Hermione asked.

Dumbledore smiled. "Well, Miss Granger, you must remember that at various points in history, there was a time when nudity and sexual expression was considered to be fine art and thus wasn't something to be ashamed of or that had to be hidden away. As opinions on such things changed, however, they were moved to the Restricted Section and put on a high shelf that younger children would not be able to reach."

Hermione nodded and there was silence for a moment, before Noah said, "Professor, could we have permission to access the Restricted Section? I'm not really interested in Ms. Crawford's works," okay that was a lie, "but I am very curious about who the heirs are and if those texts can shed any light on it."

"Well, Mr. Diggory," Dumbledore said, "as you know, normally you need a signed note from a professor to access the Restricted Section and professors can only give you permission to research from books that are related to the topic they teach." Noah nodded at this, before Dumbledore continued, "However, I find myself very curious about who the heirs are myself, so, I will allow the three of you to enter the Restricted Section. I think, in addition to Ms. Crawford's books, there might be some other useful texts in there as well."

Pulling out his PDA, Dumbledore tapped out a quick message to Madam Pince, asking her to join him near the entrance to the Restricted Section. A few minutes later, the librarian came over and asked, "You wanted to see me, Headmaster?"

"Yes, Irma," Dumbledore said. "I'm giving Mr. Potter, Mr. Diggory, and Miss Granger permission to access the Restricted Section to research the founders and who their heirs might be."

Madam Pince nodded and made a note of it on her own PDA, before she said, "As you wish, Headmaster." Turning to the three students, she said, "The restricted books cannot be taken out of the section, so you'll have to do all of your research at the tables in the section. Also, please note that there's a limit of three students at a time in the section, so if all three of you are in there at the same time and another student needs to get in to research something for class, I'll have to pull one of you out."

Pulling a heavy iron keychain from the pocket of her robes, she walked over to the gate and inserted a key into the lock. Pulling open the gate, she ushered the three teens inside and said, "I'll come and check on you periodically and if you need help finding a specific book, you can always send me a message via your PDAs and I'll tell you where to find it. Remember, that the library closes at 8pm, so if you haven't found what you're looking for by then, you'll have to leave."

Looking at the Headmaster, she asked, "Was this permission to be for multiple days or just today, Headmaster?"

"Permission will last for two months, for now," Dumbledore said. "I may extend it after that, but knowing Miss Granger, I think that should be enough time, especially with Mr. Potter's and Mr. Diggory's assistance."

"Very well, Headmaster," Madam Pince said as she closed and locked the gate behind the three teens. "You might start your search on bookshelves R-15 through R-20, as there's several books actually written by the founders and their contemporaries stored there."

'Well, that narrows it down a little,' Harry thought, as he spied the bookshelf labeled R-15. 'But not by much, considering there must be at least 500 books on that shelf alone.'

-o-0-o-

Later that day, Noah, Harry, and Hermione arrived in Classroom 2C on the ground floor of the castle for Fencing class. Upon arriving, they recognized several people, as like most electives, the class was a mix of all four houses. Harry waved to Ryan, Nick, Ernie, and Justin, who waved back, just as Draco Malfoy walked into the room, with Crabbe and Goyle following behind him. Not long afterward, Pansy Parkinson walked into the room and Draco groaned.

"You again?" Draco asked, as he looked directly at Pansy. "What did you do? Sign up for all of my classes?"

"You know you love being in class with me, Draco," Pansy said, as she walked over, grabbed Draco's right arm and then proceeded to rest her cheek on his shoulder as she batted her eyes at him.

Yanking his arm away from her as if he had just been burned, Draco said, "Pansy, how many times do I have to tell you this?" Motioning with his hand between them, he added, "We are not a couple."

Pansy shook her head and said, "Oh Draco, Draco, stop lying will you? We're going to be married and it's long past time that you accepted that."

Draco usually wore an emotionless mask, but at this point it slipped, big time, and he was clearly angry, as he said, "I'm not marrying you, Pansy! I'm gay!"

Several students turned to watch the argument at this outburst and many of them, Harry, Hermione, and Noah included, had shocked looks on their faces, because none of them had ever pegged Draco as being into blokes.

Pansy, however, looked totally oblivious as she batted her eyes at him again, tossed back a strand of her long hair and said, "Oh Draco, of course, you're gay. How could you not be happy about our future together? Deliriously so, even?"

Draco just shook his head in disbelief for a moment, before he said, "Pansy, when I said gay I meant queer, poof, shirtlifter - in other words, I like cock, which you don't have. So, for the millionth time, we are not getting married!"

"Keep telling yourself that as often as you want, Draco," Pansy said. "It won't make it anymore true."

"AHHH!" Draco screamed, as he threw his arms up and stalked to the other side of the room. When Pansy moved to follow, Draco said, "Crabbe, Goyle, make yourselves useful and keep her away from me."

Crabbe and Goyle moved between Draco and Pansy, preventing the girl from reaching her goal. She didn't look particularly happy, especially when they moved with her to prevent her from going around them, but before she could say anything, Professor Valen Lasinius entered the room. At first glance, he was wearing the same ocean blue robes that he'd been wearing at the Arrival Feast, but upon closer inspection, it was clear that they were not the same robes, even if they were the same color.

"Welcome everyone to Fencing," Valen said. "I am Professor Valen Lasinius and in this class I will be teaching you everything you need to know about the use of a sword." Removing a rapier from a black dragonhide scabbard attached to his belt, Valen expertly tossed it into the air and caught the hilt in his left hand, before moving it into a horizontal position. He then placed a single finger of his right hand under the blade and let go of the hilt, with many of the students surprised to see the sword balanced perfectly on his finger.

"In the middle of a battle, a well-balanced sword can truly be your best friend," Valen said. "I know that statement may surprise some of you, as you probably think of your wands as being your best friends in a battle, but by the end of this year, I aim to prove to you that a sword can be just as, if not more useful than a wand. For you see, a practiced master who knows their art, can use their sword as a wand." To demonstrate his point, Valen took the hilt of his sword in his left hand, before walking over to a rack of swords. Taking one of them from the rack, Valen laid it down flat on the ground before he stood back up and pointed his own sword at the one on the floor, moving it in the same pattern as the necessary wand movement as he said aloud, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

There were several gasps of surprise as the sword on the floor floated up into the air, where Valen grabbed the hilt when it got high enough that he could grab it without bending. Placing the sword back in the rack, Valen sheathed his blade and turned to look at the class.

"Now, I must impress upon all of you that I am a master swordsman and have been studying my craft longer than any of you have been alive," Valen said, which caused quite a few confused looks. Valen apparently picked up on it and said, "I'm not as young as I look, although my age is for me to know and you to guess at. Now, I expect each and every one of you to take this class very seriously. This will be, without a doubt, one of your more dangerous classes and I will not tolerate any of you goofing off or handling a sword in an inappropriate manner. While it is true that for the time being we will be using magically dulled blades that would have a hard time cutting a spider's web, let alone skin, it is still imperative that you act appropriately in this class and follow my every instruction. Because I'm telling you right now that I will have no problems in taking points, giving detentions, or if necessary dropping you from this class permanently if I feel that you are not paying proper attention or if you are not taking the class seriously enough. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Professor Lasinius," several voices said all at once, as heads throughout the room nodded.

"Very well," Valen said as he took a seat in a chair next to the sword rack. "When I call your name, please come over and I'll see about getting you matched with a sword that is best suited to you. Once you have one, you are to keep the point of the blade facing the ground and await further instructions."

Before Valen could call out any names, however, Ernie raised his hand and Valen said, "Yes, Mr. Macmillan?" Ernie had History of Magic at ten on Tuesdays during A weeks and thus Valen had no problems in identifying him.

"Why are there seventh years in this class?" Ernie asked. "We usually don't have classes with the other year levels."

"A fair question," Valen said. "The reason is because only six seventh-year students signed up for this class and I felt that it would be impractical to teach a class with only six students in it, especially when due to the fact that this is a new subject at Hogwarts, many of you are likely to be at the same skill level."

As he assigned swords to each student, Valen made a note on his PDA, recording the details of the sword that he'd awarded to each student. He also waved his wand at the rack, which caused a small parchment tag to appear with each student's name on it, marking the place on the rack where each students' sword would be placed. This was because as the students found out after everyone had one was because they wouldn't be allowed to take these swords out of the classroom. They were only practice swords first off, but there was also the fact that Valen refused to let any of them actually leave the room with one until he was confident in their ability to wield one safely.

Once all twenty-five students in the class had been assigned a sword, Valen stood and with a wave of his wand, conjured twenty-six identical practice dummies, one for each student and one for him to demonstrate upon. The rest of the period was then spent with Valen teaching a few basic movements, which he had the students repeat. Harry and many of the others found themselves enjoying the class, although it was clear that some were enjoying it more than others. Just before the bell signaling the end of the period was due to ring, Valen sheathed his sword and said, "On your way out of the room, please place your swords in the slot on the rack that has your name on it."

The bell rang at this point and the students moved towards the rack to put their swords away, as Valen said, "Mr. Cromwell, a word, if you please?"

Looking over his shoulder, Ryan nodded to the professor, as he placed his practice sword in the rack. He then walked over to Valen and waited for him to speak, which he refrained from doing until it was just him and Ryan in the room.

"Mr. Cromwell, I asked to speak with you," Valen said, "because in watching your performance in class today, I got the distinct impression that unlike many of your classmates this was not the first time that you'd handled a blade. Am I correct?"

Ryan nodded and said, "Yes, Professor. My late grandfather, William Cromwell, started giving me lessons when I was five and he kept it up as long as he could before the magical wasting sickness that claimed his life rendered him incapable of continuing the lessons. In the interim between then and his death, my cousin Matthew and I practiced daily and often sparred with each other."

"I see," Valen said. "Matthew is on staff here, is he not?"

"Yes, he's an Assistant Professor," Ryan confirmed. "My grandmother Lucinda and I moved to the United States when I was ten years old, after my grandfather died. She never said as much, but I think it was too painful for her to stay in the family home, as there were too many memories of her late husband." Valen nodded. "Anyway, while in the states, I was a member of the Fencing Club at Asheville Academy of the Arcane, so, I've kept up my training." Ryan grinned here and said, "Although Matt has gotten a bit rusty over the years."

Valen was quiet for a moment, before he said, "Mr. Cromwell, at some point this year, I'll be partnering each student for practice with a moving target rather than the practice dummies. However, after seeing your performance today, I'm inclined to think that you're too advanced for your classmates. There's also an uneven number of students in the class, so I was wondering if you would like to partner with me for the year?"

"That would be great, sir," Ryan said.

Valen smiled. "Very well, Mr. Cromwell, I'm going to make you my unofficial teaching assistant, although I should warn you that due to the unofficial nature of the position it isn't likely that you'll be paid like the other students who are teaching classes. Since you clearly know what you're doing, however, I would very much like it if you could assist me in keeping an eye on the class and giving pointers to your fellow students."

Ryan nodded and said, "I can do that."

Glancing at the clock on the wall, Valen noted that they'd been talking for five minutes, meaning that Ryan would have only five minutes to get to his next class. "Since you have less time to get there, did you want a note for your next teacher in case you're late?"

With a shake of his head, Ryan said, "That won't be necessary, sir, as I have the next period free."

"If it wasn't for the fact that I have to go and teach a History class," Valen said, "I'd ask if you wanted to spend that free period sparring with me, but alas, that is not possible, today at least, so you may go, Mr. Cromwell."

Ryan nodded and said, "Goodbye, Professor," before he left the room.

When the classroom door closed, Valen waited a moment to ensure that Ryan was out of earshot, before he said aloud, "He's certainly turned into a well-rounded and capable young man since I saw him last."

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

And there's Part 2 of Chapter 12, which I can only hope you enjoyed. So, a frustrated, gay Draco Malfoy dealing with the unwanted romantic attentions of one totally oblivious Pansy Parkinson. Interesting? Funny? And it would seem that Valen knows Ryan somehow, but the question is how? I will likely be advancing time in the next chapter, by how much I'm not sure yet. Some interesting information regarding the founders will likely be revealed in the next chapter, so stay tuned.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.